Bradley Manning Trial Defense: He Did Not Harm US National Security

Bradley Manning Trial Defense: He Did Not Harm US National Security

Article excerpt

The essence of Pfc. Bradley Manning's defense in his military
court martial is that, yes, he released a trove of classified data
to the controversial whistle-blower organization WikiLeaks, but that
information did not seriously harm US national security - and it
certainly did not aid the enemy in the war on terrorism.

Pfc. Manning's defense team also hopes to paint the young soldier
as an idealist who became disillusioned by some of what he learned
in Iraq, and that he was merely trying to save lives by revealing
secrets about US operations there.

The case is being argued before presiding judge Col. Denise Lind.
Colonel Lind, who has ruled out any defense testimony regarding
Manning's motives in leaking information. But over prosecution
objections, she is allowing defense witnesses who had been
communicating with Manning to testify as to his state of mind while
he was in Iraq.

In an online chat with a friend back in the United States,
Manning had said he was "concerned about making sure that everyone,
soldiers, marines, contractors, even the local nationals, get home
to their families," according to the testimony of Lauren McNamara.

Referring to the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Manning wrote
that "some of them are actually pretty dangerous indeed ... some of
them weren't dangerous before, but are now in fact dangerous because
we imprisoned them for so long...."

Morris Davis, the retired Air Force colonel who served as the
former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo, testified that much of the
information in the "detainee assessment briefs" revealed by Manning
was easily available from open sources, including government
sources.

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Army Sgt. David Sadtler testified that Manning was upset when he
learned that civilians were being arrested for protesting in Iraq.

Another witness, Army Chief Warrant Officer Joshua Ehresman, an
intelligence analyst who supervised Manning in Iraq, said Manning
"was our best analyst by far."

"For most soldiers, you would have to spell it out," he
testified. "With Manning, he would come up with exactly what you
were looking for. He was our go-to guy."

The prosecution, which rested its case last week, says Manning
leaked more than 700,000 classified files, combat videos, and
diplomatic cables while he was a junior intelligence analyst in Iraq
in 2009 and 2010. …